Monday, July 22, 2013

After participating in a sample box, I learned a few things. The samples I sent in were wax tarts. I participated in the Out of the Box Sampler. I'll be sending my samples in again over the fall and winter months.

I'll pass on what I learned to you, my readers, in case you ever want to join in on the fun. I sent in 100 samples. I made sure that every one of these samples had my business card stapled to the plastic baggie that had my sample in it. This is one thing that I would change. In the future I'll be placing my business card inside the baggie with my sample. This way the person receiving my sample in their box won't have to rip my business card.

Something else that I'll be doing differently is paying more attention to the box theme. Every month the Out of The Box Sampler has a theme that is listed on their web site: Out of the Box Sampler

The smartest change I'll be making to my style of preparation is making the wax tarts ahead of time. This is perfect for when you think you don't have enough time to make samples. Make them ahead of time and package them ahead of time. What I do is I make small batches of tarts at a time. This way I don't get overwhelmed.

Participating in a sample box is an investment. There are ways to be thrifty about it:

1. Get your packaging at yard sales or flea markets. There's always someone out there trying to get rid of their festive packaging materials from different holidays. Help them out and help yourself out at the same time.

2. Print your own business cards. It's easy! Most computers have at least one program that help you make your own business cards. For the card stock and/or thicker papers, I normally just use the paper that my children used for finger painting. I cut it down to 8 1/2 inches x 11 inches. Then I make sure that the colorful side is facing up. This way my business information is clearly seen on the blank side. The back of the card is where I write what the scent of the wax tart is.

3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! If you get pretty packaging with something that you ordered, reuse it for one of your samples. The same goes for cute ribbons or stickers or even old sewing lace. These materials can easily be used to make a pretty bow on your sample baggies. Just make sure that your baggie is secure so that everyone knows which sample goes with what business card

Thursday, July 11, 2013

It was my first time doing a video review, so it's very rough. Hopefully you get a good idea of what is in the box. It is truly worth the $25 you pay for it. How else can you check out some of the best of Etsy?

A good chunk of the $25 goes towards shipping your box of goodies to you.